Best new games of the week: Mikey Boots and GREG

Every week, our staff will handpick a game from the past two weeks that we believe is a must-have download for your iPhone or iPad. These games will always be from a wide variety of genres, but they are chosen because our own staff members love it and can’t quite put it down. So here are this week’s picks! Enjoy, and happy gaming!

Mikey Boots

You need to be fast and precise with the turns as you fly in our Game of the Week.

In the mood for an amazing speed platformer? Then you need to pick up our Game of the Week, which is the third installment of the Mikey platformer games: Mikey Boots.

If you’ve played the previous two Mikey games, Mikey Shorts and Mikey Hooks, then you will love the graphic style of Mikey Boots, since it retains that retro 16-bit look and feel. Players will fly through six different environments that alternate after each level, and get increasingly more difficult as you go. The game is bright and colorful, complete with buttery smooth animations and an awesome chiptune soundtrack.

Like the other games, the controls in Mikey Boots is simple, intuitive, and some of the best controls you’ll find for a platformer game. Your character, which is either Mikey or his female counterpart (yay!), will fly automatically once you get past the starting gate, but you are in charge of directional turns. To fly left, just tap the left side of the screen; to go right, just tap on the right side. Unlike the other two games, this game depends on you making tight turns in order to get the fastest time.

There are a total of 42 levels, including some bonus stages. The coins that you can collect are spent in the shop for dozens of disguises for your character, and you can even find the hidden Golden Shorts if you are a perfectionist. There is full Game Center support for leaderboards and achievements to obtain.

Our entire staff is loving Mikey Boots, and if you’re a fan of the previous games, or enjoy speed platformers, then you need to pick this up if you haven’t already. You can get Mikey Boots on the App Store as a universal download for $1.99.

For more information, don’t forget to check my full review.

Honorable Mention

GREG – A Mathematical Puzzle Game

Use your brain to quickly add up numbers in this fast-paced puzzle game.

Feeling a bit mathematical, but want to enjoy a good puzzle? Then you should check out our Honorable Mention, GREG – A Mathematical Puzzle Game.

This fun puzzle game features a minimalistic look that fits in nicely with the overall aesthetics of iOS 7. The colors are nice and bright, standing out nicely against the creamy beige background. The typeface is easy on the eyes, the music is funky, and the sounds are fun.

The goal of the game is to get as many points as you can. To do this, you have a number at the top of the screen — you need to add up number tokens on the game board that will equal that number. You only have a limited amount of time, though, as unused tokens will get hotter over time. If they are too hot, then the game ends! To move on to the next level, you will need to get enough totals to match the number of dots that surround the top number token. The game gets faster as you progress.

Sometimes you will find special number tokens, which are different than the rest due to a symbol. These can help you out, such as stopping the timer for six seconds, cooling down unused tiles, or giving you 10 times more points. But you’ll need to be fast with them too, as they disappear after a brief period.

We’ve been enjoying GREG – A Mathematical Puzzle Game over the past week, and if you’re a fan of fast-paced puzzle games (and can do basic addition), then you’ll like this one. You can get GREG in the iPhone App Store for $0.99.

For more information on GREG, check my original review.